BJP will win over 200 seats in MCD polls: Vijay Goel

New Delhi, Apr 20 . With days to go for the municipal
polls in Delhi, Union minister Vijay Goel today exuded
confidence that the BJP will retain power with a resounding
victory by bagging an "impressive tally of seats".
Asked to project the number of seats the party was
expected to win, he said, "more than 200".
Goel also described the party's decision to field only
fresh faces as "bold".
"The AAP's drubbing in the Rajouri Garden by-poll is a
clear indication. We are going to put up an impressive show in
the MCD polls as well," The Union Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports told PTI.
The BJP has been ruling the MCD for the last 10 years.
After the trifurcation of the MCD in 2012 into North, South
and East Delhi Municipal Corporations (NDMC, SDMC and EDMC),
the first election was held the same year, which was won by
the saffron party.
The BJP currently has 153 sitting councillors, but this
time, it has not fielded any of them and instead, preferred
all fresh faces.
The move has been described by the opposition parties,
including the Congress and the AAP, as a "tactic to counter
anti-incumbency", while the BJP maintains that the decision is
to "give chance to the new generation".
"The decision to field no sitting councillor is a bold
one. This will bring in the new generation and new faces, who
do not have cases against them, corruption-related or
otherwise.
"People have shown faith (in the BJP) in the Lok Sabha
and the Uttar Pradesh (Assembly) elections. Recently, even in
the Rajouri Garden by-poll, the electorate gave us the
indication," Goel said.
The MCD polls are due on April 23 and the campaigning of
all the parties has hit the fever pitch before the dust
settles in the rally grounds and the loudspeakers fall silent.
Both the AAP and the Congress have cornered the BJP over
"civic mismanagement" in the city, even as the saffron party
has blunted the attack, alleging that Kejriwal has "no
interest" in the affairs of Delhi and he is only interested in
"expanding his party's footprint" beyond the national capital.
The AAP suffered a debacle in the Punjab, Goa and
Uttarakhand polls recently, even as Kejriwal has said that
those elections as well as the Rajouri Garden by-poll should
not be seen as a "trailer of the MCD elections".
Generation-1 electronic voting machines (EVMs) are to be
used in the MCD polls, even though Kejriwal has requested to
the Delhi State Election Commission to delay the elections, so
that only VVPAT-equipped EVMs could be brought in.
Delhi has 272 wards in total -- NDMC (104), SDMC (104)
and EDMC (64). PTI